Arsenal and Man Utd transfer target Tielemans made Leicester’s 'top priority' to sell
Ben Jacobs
- 24 Aug 2022 03:40 CDT
- 3 min read
Youri Tielemans is set to be a hot topic in the closing days of the transfer window, with Arsenal leading Manchester United among others in the chase for the Leicester and Belgium midfielder, as CBS reporter Ben Jacobs writes for FootballTransfers.
It’s top priority for Leicester to sell Tielemans now because hey want the money, even if Fofana goes. With Brendan Rodgers now speaking about Tielemans and Fofana collectively as not being in the right mindset tells you the fact that Leicester and Tielemans are braced for an offer from somebody.
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It’s just whether Arsenal are going to pull the trigger. And what complicates it from Arsenal’s point of view is that earlier in the window they felt that Granit Xhaka might need to go to create space for Tielemans.
Xhaka has made a good start to the season, so does that now take Tielemans of the table in Arteta’s thinking? At the moment, sources say no, not 100%, but he’s perhaps not as big a priority as he was in January and at the beginning of the window. Then they went in other directions and now the questions all summer is whether Arsenal will return.
Arsenal in no rush
Tactically as well, the longer they leave it now, because of Leicester’s situation, the more they drive down the price. Arsenal would prefer to pay £23-25 million; Leicester want £30-32m. That is the sort of gap in valuation.
It’s a lot to play for Tielemans in some respects. He’s in a position where his contract is winding down and there’s no bidding war. I’d be surprised if that doesn’t change between now and when the window closes, but at the moment to just pay the £32m, even if some would say that’s still a bargain, will feel a lot to a club like Arsenal because they value at £8-9m lower.
They want to go for Wolves’ Pedro Neto first, then if they’ve got the squad space and the desire to go for Tielemans, they know he wants to join the club.
Tielemans’ alternative possibilities
If Arsenal don’t go for Tielemans, it could get really interesting. They know that if they go for Tielemans, they will get him because Tielemans wants Arsenal.
But if they say: ‘No, sorry, we had a real interest, we put a lot of work in but now we don’t want you,’ that’s when there’s a whole range of clubs who, late in the window, could make an offer. West Ham, Manchester United still potentially depending on other options, Newcastle have made an enquiry. So there’s a few out there that could come in for Tielemans between now and the end of the window.
For a player of his quality, who has worked hard to get himself as fit as possible in the off season, is a goal scorer, is an assister, can get box-to-box, I think someone will make a bid for Youri Tielemans between now and when the window shuts.
